Over all I like Steve Perrys writing, he can usually turn out an interesting tale with human characters and intriguing plots. The Digital Effect is no exception to this. The main character, Gil Sivart, a retired engineer, micro model make and part time private investigator solves the puzzle of the death of the his clients S.O. in a very human fashion. No super powers of observation, no inexplicable leaps of intuition, a slow piecing together of bits of information one step at a time.

The story is basically a mystery that just happens to be set in an orbital city at the end of the 22nd century. As with most stories of this type, the background and setting is secondary to the mystery itself, but in this instance Perry seems to go a little out of his way to toss in bits of history and occasionally tech talk to try and remind you that this is a Science Fiction story as well as a mystery. Though these bits are interesting, they are not really necessary to the story and seem to be a more filler then anything else. Fortunately it doesn't really get in the way of the story and lets you see a little bit more of the world the characters live in